Henry and Cordilla Frye

 Attached is a melodramatic chapter from early Gig Harbor.  Maybe you can find out more.  In the attached articles Mrs. Frye is variously referred to as Mary, Cordelia and Mary Cordelia, all being one and the same.  

In the 1900 census (the second attachment) she is called Cordilla.  Henry Frye may have died in Gig Harbor on 11-16-1908.  That's all I've got.  The Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society information agrees with Artondale Cemetery and shows his birth in Monroe County, Indiana.  Henry W. Fry, Veteran, is buried at the Artondale Cemetery.  Their records show that he was born January 13, 1825, died November 16, 1908.  It goes on to state:  Second stone is Vet stone:  CO. G, 31 Indiana Infantry ACAJ.  Henry W. Fry died November 16, 1908, age 83 years, 10 months, 3 days.  born about January 03, 1825.  Is this the same Henry Fry as shown on the 1900 Census?  It appears that it could be despite the difference in year of birth as 1825 or 1830.  More research must be done.

Unfortunately I was unable to discover any information on Cordilla Frye.  Although I must say that Ancestry.com shows both the spelling of the surname as “Fry”, “Frye” and “Faye”.   I searched for her under Frye, and if only showed her on the 1900 Census as stated above.  I also searched under Cordilla Frye Lawrence and nothing came up.  Nor could I find her on Find-A-Grave site.  And, I could find nothing on C. V. Lawrence.   A mystery, definitely!  where oh where is Miss Marple.

1900 Census

Then, who was John Anderson, and why did Henry tried to kill him?  A very good question, but few answers.  But I did find out a little bit about him.

John Henry Anderson was born on February 3, 1856 in Illinois and died April 29, 1929.  His timeline shows he was married in 1880 to Ellen Jackson.  They had three children:  Maude, Josephine and Charles.  Charles, the youngest child was born in 1884, and Ellen dies in 1895.  Then in 1895, John marries Rebecca C. Higarn in Colorado, but shows no children from this union.  At this time the family has moved to Umatilla Oregon.  

In 1903, John marries Mattie O’D Frye.  Aha!  John is now 47 years old, but Mattie is only 21 and, Mattie is Henry’s only child!  So it appears that perhaps it was Mattie, not Henry's wife, that John was interested in.  So, perhaps Henry disliked John because twice Mattie’s age.  Or perhaps because he had already been married twice and had three children.  It is doubtful we’ll ever know the true reason unless we can uncover more newspaper articles from 1902 about legal case.

John and Mattie have six children.  John died on May 7, 1929 and is buried in the Spanaway Cemetery, Spanaway, Washington.   Mattie died June 19, 1962 in Puyallup, Washington.

SO, readers - can you help us solve this mystery?

© 2012 Harbor History Museum. All rights reserved.